Apparatus for steaming oysters



(No Model.)

l R. WELLS. Apparatus for Steaming Oysters. No. 235,189. Patented Dec. 7,1880.

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ILPI'ERS. PHOTO-LJTOGRAPHER. WASHKNGTON. D C.

UNrren STATES To all whom tt may concern:

Be it known that I', RIOHARD WELLS, of the city of Baltimore and State of Maryland, have invented certain Improvements in Apparatus for Steaming Oysters in the Shell, of which the following is a specication; and I do hereby declare that in the same is contained a full, clear, and exact description of my said invention, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

My invention relates to certain improvements in that Vclass of apparatus for steaming oysters ih the shell in which a steam-tight car having a perforated steam-pipe therein is used for the reception of the oysters, and which car, after being lled, is wheeled on a track to a boiler the steam-space whereof is connected to the perforated steam-pipe aforesaid.

My said invention consists in combining with a series of open=top irnperforate cars a suspended top adapted to be lowered upon any one of the said cars to form a tight joint during the steaming operation, the said cars or the removable top being provided with a perforated steam-pipe adapted to be coupled to the ilexible end of a stationary steam-pipe leading from a boiler.

The invention further consists in the novel construction of certain parts of the apparatus, as hereinafter set forth.

In the further description of my said invention which follows reference is made to the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof, and in which- Figure I is a plan of the apparatus. Fig. II is a longitudinal section of a part of the invention. Figs. III, IV, and V are views of parts ofthe invention. Figs. VI and VII illustrate a modication in the construction of the apparatus.

Similar letters of reference indicate' similar parts in all the views.

A is a track leading from the place where the oysters are landed or stored to a track, B, extending preferably at a right angle therewith, and which is located in the shucking room or compartment. The track B is lower than the one A, in order that the upper sur- PATENT OFFICE.

RICHAR WELLS, =OF BALTIMORE, MARYLAND.

APPARATUS 'FOR STEAMING OYSTERS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 235,189, dated December '7, 1880. Application led September 20, 1880. (No model.)

thereon, may be about on a level with the ground upon which the track A is laid.

D is an open-top imperforate wheeled car, a number of which are used in connection with a head or top, E, suspended over any part of the track A by means of suitable hoistingtackle. The car D is preferably made of iron in the form shown, and it is provided with a coil or gang of perforated steam-pipe, F, and a perforated false bottom, G. One end ofthe coil or gang projects through the side or end of the car, and is adapted for ready attachment to the iiexible end aof a steam-pipe, H, leading from a boiler, I. A cock or valve, b, is situated at the end of the rigid steam-pipe to control the flow of steam from the boiler. The truck is also litted with an escape-valve, c, for steam and water, located near to the bottom of the vessel.

Parts of the invention not yet alluded to will be described and their uses fully set forth in the description ofthe operation of steaming oysters by means of my improved apparatus which follows.

A car is filled with oysters in the shell, after which it is wheeled to the position shown in Fig. I of the drawings and the head E lowered thereon. The head E has a gasket, d, of rubber or other ilexible material, whereby a tight joint between the said head and the edge of the car-body is effected. The iiexible end aof the steam-pipe H is then attached to the outer end of the steam coil or gang and the cock b opened. Steam is thus admitted to the interior of the car and to contact with the oysters. A safety-valve, K, is used to prevent the steam in the car reaching a pressure sufficiently high to lift the head E. After the oysters have been exposed to the action of steam for a proper length of time the cock b is closed and the head raised, when the said car is wheeled to the platform C on the track B, and thence to one of the side tracks, L, in the shuckingcompartment of the establishment. A newlyloaded truck is now brought under the head E and the oysters therein steamed as before described.

Figs. VI and VII of the drawings show the 5o face of a wheeled platform, C, adapted to run coil of steam-pipe attached to the head E, in-

stead of being located in the car. 10Q

..--. wfmwmim; I* I h I From the foregoing description it will be wheeled carhaviugthereiuaperforated steamseen that after a lled car has been subjected pipe, a removable top provided with a, gasket to steam it is wheeled entirelY out of the way und e safety-valve, and adapted for Suspension of those to be subsequently connected to the by means of tackle, a. track for the wheeled 5 steam-pipe H,and the stemniug operation has car, e fixed steam-pipe extending from a boiler, not therefore to be suspended while the oyel and a exible end to the said steam-pipe, ters in the tirst car are being shocked. The l whereby the same and the perforated pipe in flexible end a of the steanrpipe I1 obvates the car may be connected, all combined subthe necessity of great exactucss in the location i stautinlly as and for the purpose herein speci- 1o of the cars when the same are to be connected z fied.

to the steam-pipe. RICHARD WELLS.

I claim as my iuvention- Witnesses:

An apparatus for steaming oysters in the JN0. T. MADDOX, shell, consisting of au open-top iinperforatc l HARRY 1WALBAUGJI. 

